‘Sex for McDonalds’ abuse gang jailed

The six men are facing lengthy jail sentences for taking part in the horrifying abuse of two schoolgirls. Picture: PA

Six Asian men were convicted yesterday at the Old Bailey of a range of sex offences between 2006 and 2012, including the multiple rape of a child under 13, child prostitution and administering a substance to “stupefy” a girl to engage in sexual activity.

Vikram Singh, Asif Hussain, Arshad Jani, Mohammed Imran, Akbari Khan and Taimoor Khan were jailed for between three years and 19-and-a-half years for their part in the abuse.

Most of the offences related to a girl known only as Child A, who was present in court to see the men who robbed her of her teenage years sent down.

Pakistani national Imran, who met the girl through his friend Jani, had “sold her” or “passed her around” his friends for their own amusement in exchange for payment, the court heard.

In a statement, the victim of the sex ring in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, told of her feelings of “worthlessness” as she battled depression and alcohol addiction, adding: “I feel my teenage years were taken away from me.”

Sentencing, Judge John Bevan QC paid tribute to her bravery in laying bare her life “warts and all” and said the way some of the defendants took advantage of her vulnerability was “grotesque”. He said that while Singh bore a “heavy responsibility” for Child A’s “degradation”, Imran’s involvement was the “most cynical and harmful” of all.

Of Child A, he said: “She sought friendship amongst Asian males in their 20s and for the price of a McDonald’s, a milkshake and cinema ticket, she became ‘liked’ by stall holders, taxi and bus drivers.

“By the age of 13 she was sexually experienced, confusing sexual gratification for friendship and love.”

By the time she was 16, the girl had slept with just under 70 men and her vulnerability should have been “blindingly obvious”, the judge said.

He went on: “Why these defendants focused their attention on white under-age girls is unexplained but I have no doubt vulnerability played a substantial part in it.

“The combination of inadequate parenting leading to rebellious children lacking supervision provided an opportunity. If they pursued Asian under-age girls, they would have paid a heavy price in their community.”

The two victims came from troubled backgrounds and wanted to feel grown-up when they were befriended by the men, who groomed them by showering them with inexpensive gifts such as alcohol, DVDs, food and occasionally drugs.

While aged just 12 or 13, Child A was passed between some 60 mainly Asian men for sex after being conditioned into thinking it was normal behaviour.

The vast majority of the charges related to this child, while three charges related to Girl B.

During the trial, prosecutor Oliver Saxby QC told the jury the youngsters were “easy prey for a group of men wanting casual sexual gratification that was easy, regular and readily available”.

He said the girls’ ideas of what was right had been “completely distorted”, and that they thought what was happening was “normal” and “natural”.